Nemanja Matic handed 2-match ban for hiding homophobia sign in a recent Ligue 1 fixture against Angers on 17 May.
Lyon midfielder Nemanja Matic handed two-match ban after covering an anti-homophobia message on his shirt with tape.
On May 17, when Lyon defeated Angers 2-0, the 36-year-old Serb wore an anti-homophobia placard.
The Ligue 1 campaign, which is currently in its fifth year, includes the anti-homophobia theme. Usually, stadiums display banners and players are asked to wear rainbow-coloured insignia.
However, Le Havre striker Ahmed Hassan, 32, and former Manchester United and Chelsea midfielder Matic both taped up the words on their sleeves.
The two were given two-match bans and two-match suspensions by Ligue 1.
Matic has not yet agreed to fresh terms with Lyon, whose contract expires at the end of June.
In recent years, there has been opposition to the yearly awareness campaign, with some athletes refusing to participate due to their religious convictions.
On the last day of the season, Mostafa Mohamed, 27, a forward for Nantes and Egypt, pulled out of his team’s crucial relegation-decider match against Montpellier.
“I believe in mutual respect – the respect we owe others but also the respect we owe to ourselves and our beliefs. For me, there are deep-rooted values linked to my background and my beliefs that make my participation in this initiative difficult,” Nantes’ Mohamed said on Instagram before the match.
Mohamed Camara, a 25-year-old midfielder for Monaco at the time, was given a four-match suspension last season for tape over an anti-homophobia badge on his shirt.
The Toulouse team said that some of its players had “expressed their disagreement with the association of their image with the rainbow colours representing the LGBT movement” when they skipped a 2023 game.